Samer Abu Daqqa
سامر أبو دقة
Camera operator for Al-Jazeera
Killed by Israel using Unknown Weapons
Killed by Israel on 15 Dec 2023
Archived Videos on Genocide.live
Links
- Israel Bombed an Al Jazeera Cameraman — and Blocked Evacuation Efforts as He Bled to Death
- Al Jazeera to refer killing of cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa in Gaza to International Criminal Court
- Gaza : Le caméraman d’Al Jazeera Samer Abu Daqqa tombe en martyr
- Funeral held for Al Jazeera journalist killed in Israel strike
- Israel-Hamas war updates: Israeli attack kills Al Jazeera’s Samer Abudaqa
- Mourners hold funeral held for Al Jazeera cameraman killed in Gaza
- Samer Abu Daqqa
- Israel-Hamas journalist deaths rise to 79 as journalists working for Al Jazeera and AFP killed
- Samer Abu Daqqa’s final reporting trip, amid the ruins of Khan Younis
- Samer Abu Daqqa
Archivist Notes
Full Name: Samer Khalil Salman Abu Daqqa | سامر خليل سلمان ابو دقه
Abu Daqqa also held Belgian citizenship and was the father of three sons and a daughter. His family lived in Belgium., He was a camera operator for Al-Jazeera Arabic since 2004, was killed by a drone strike while covering the aftermath of nightly Israeli strikes on a United Nations school -Farahana School- sheltering displaced people in the center of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, according to Al-Jazeera and Reuters news agency. His colleague, Al-Jazeera bureau chief Wael Al Dahdouh, whose wife and children were killed in an Israeli air raid on 25 October, was wounded in the arm and waist in the same strike as Abu Daqqa. But while Al-Dahdouh was able to be transported to the hospital, Abu Daqqa was unable to be moved for medical care and could not be reached for hours by first responders, according to Israel’s Foreign Press Association. He was trapped with other injured people in the school, which was surrounded by Israeli forces, and was unable to be evacuated for treatment. According Al Jazeera, "Following Samer's injury, he was left to bleed to death for over five hours, as Israeli forces prevented ambulances and rescue workers from reaching him, denying the much-needed emergency treatment" .
The Israeli army said it approved a route for a Palestinian ambulance to access the scene but the medical van chose another route and was blocked.
The FPA said the 45-year-old father of four, who had worked for Al Jazeera since 2004, was its first member to be killed in Gaza in the war. “We consider this a grave blow to the already limited freedom of the press in Gaza and call on the army for a prompt investigation and explanation,”
Al Jazeera said it “deems this incident a deliberate attempt to target its correspondents and their families in the besieged Gaza Strip”. Al Jazeera managing editor Mohamed Moawad said: “His unwavering commitment to truth and storytelling has left an indelible mark on our team. Samer, whose lens captured the raw and unfiltered reality of life in Gaza, was not just a skilled professional but a compassionate soul who understood the power of visual storytelling. His courage in the face of adversity allowed the world to witness the untold stories of a region grappling with complex challenges. In the pursuit of truth, our cameraman faced immense risks to bring viewers a deeper understanding of the human experience in Gaza. His lens became a window into the lives of those affected by conflict, shedding light on stories that needed to be told.”
Despites all footage of his last reporting was lost. Through testimonies and an open-source investigation, forbidden stories retraced the day of their final reporting trip on June 25, 2024.
He received the Distinguished Arab Journalist Award from the Union of Arab Journalists in 2004 and the Distinguished International Journalist Award from Reporters Without Borders in 2007.
On December 17, Al Jazeera claims preparing a legal file to send to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over what it called "the assassination" of one of its cameramen in Gaza.